Why Women Should Vote

Post Civil War - African American Right to Vote

History of the Right to Vote

"Now more than ever the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption."

~ James Garfield


"People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people. Of course, that is not true. Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote -- a very different thing."

~ Walter H. Judd

P

I can't wait. And, my BFF in England and I are going to have a Skype extravaganza till we find out who is going to be our next President. She's willing to stay up all night...me too.

From over here the concept is such a novelty. We have compulsory voting and everybody complains about it because you get a fine if you don't go.... but I'm very very glad it exists.
That said, doesn't seem to stop us electing some questionnable characters...

And for those of you who need break from all the serious politics...

These are some of the best video spoofs of the campaign...

http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/electionvideos/tp/2008-election-videos.htm

Loui

I am off to do my civic duty

who else has voted today?

QUIZ TIME- wahoo!!!

quote:

who else has voted today?

I have!!!!!!

For as much as I've been trying to move from here for the past several years, I have to say, voting in a tiny township is a delight. There was a steady stream of people ... and then line was never longer than 5 people.

Seems, too, the company that supplied the electronic voting kiosks for the last election (I blew mine up, btw ) went belly up so we're back to paper ballots. No hanging chads, though ......

I'll be up all night with the kids watching the returns.

P

Guess what I did? I voted from Canada!!!

Over the summer a girlfriend and her H came to visit and told me I could vote absentee... I had no idea, since I'm a permanent resident.

And because my last residence was in California, I got to vote about things like gay marriage and animals in captivity getting to stretch their wings/ legs...

Anyway, I voted and it felt SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!

I voted!!!!!!

I was subbing today and they wanted me to stay after and take care of a little special needs boy in after school care. They let me leave early and vote and come back. I was lucky...I went at a time where I breezed in, voted and was out in about 5 minutes. No hanging chads here either Penny. You fill in the line with a black marker..out in the boonies at the volunteer fire department!

I have to work as well tomorrow. My BFF T will be up from her nap around 7 and we will begin SKYPE. Figured she'd take a nap and pull an all nighter on the other side of the globe. She has been driving around England with a big Obama sticker on her car and the response she has gotten has been overwhelming. People stopping her in parking lots etc with comments...all of which have been very favorable. She was a bit timid at first, being a Yank and all, but people are very interested in this election in other countries..

Nyneve....I know T has always voted via absentee since she's been in England. I am so happy you were able to vote as well.

I voted. Now I'm hiding in the living room while my parents blast MSNBC in the family room.

My mother threw a tantrum about being left here alone, so I will NOT be picking up my new car tonight. *sigh*

Its past midnight here in the UK, so I'm going to watch the first results coming in. Very, very exciting times you guys. Good luck!

I have never missed voting since I turned 18, ... years ago, but voting at a time of change is unbeatable!

Jules

I've got the three teenagers, a tub of ice cream, a laptop, a blankie, a cat, all in front of the big screen tv ..... it's officially a party!

I added up the projected numbers, fell asleep happy and woke up when McCain was giving his speech. Dreams do come true.

YES WE CAN!!!!!!

No matter what your preference for winner this was an historic moment in the making. At the end of the day we would have either the first female VP or the first African American president. Truly a day to pause and reflect on how far we've come. Not to metion the possibly record making high voter turnout (I just looked ... numbers are still coming in and there's some debate about how to interpret them).

Yes, we can. We always could. And it was far less about who sat in the Oval Office than it was about getting involved, being heard, and caring more about the fate of our nation than we do about who wins the next sports championship.

It seems to me ... if we are to reclaim and rebuild a country of integrity, strength, and compassion ... then We The People need to step up to the plate and do the work.

When I went to bed, immediately following Obama's acceptance speech, popular vote was still running pretty close to 50/50. That means half of those who voted are waking up with their dreams in the loss column this morning. Both McCain and Obama stressed the need to come together in unity to begin the work of healing and growing.

We, here in the healing marriages community, get this. Just as it takes both partners joining hands and hearts and spirits to craft a marriage of strength and fulfillment, just as it takes engagement and curiosity and action from both partners, just as it takes the hard work of growth and integrity to make a marriage work, so too does it take all that to craft a nation in keeping with the vision of our founding fathers .... a vision of freedom and responsibility never before seen in history.

So this morning, this day after the culmination of an historic race and election, I challenge each and every one of you to look deep inside and in the words of John Kennedy, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." And then do it.

Yes, we can.

P

OMG Penny
that is just about the SAME discussion I had this morning with a dear friend!!
even with the Kennedy reference!!
AND
In conjunction to family and marriage and....


what I really hear in the YES WE CAN statement is an empowering of the group opposed to the all to typical societal statement used in politics of YES I WILL

a YES I WILL statement coming from the apparent leader of a group sounds far to narcissistic

the YES WE CAN statement allows more individual responsibility and accountability
I see it as more room for growth for the group as a whole

it is my belief that we could have a more efficient and compassionate country IF we healed the family units first

quote:

"Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."

Ask not what your marriage/family can do for you, ask what you can do for your marriage/family

Yes we can

and yes we will

I must live too close to the White House. I am filled with cynicism and a too-much-popcorn hangover. As it happens, I voted with the majority. As it happens, I like the talk of hope and coming together as a nation to continue to build a better place for all of us.

I've just heard it before. Endlessly. Every election. This is a cycle and it moves up and down and I hope it's a spiral and not a circle.

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of listening to five past secretaries of state talking about foreign policy. It was astonishing how intelligent, articulate, and truly wise these folks are. No political ax to grind came through -- just five wise people talking about where our country is and where it could go, no matter who sits in the Oval Office. They all agreed, right down the line, that one thing could change the view of the United States faster than anything else. What? Close Guantanamo Bay.

Because by treating others as if they have no human rights under any treaty or international law, nor any American law, we say that they are less than human. What have we become?

The rest of the nation tends to rant about DC and how stupid and awful people "inside the Beltway" are. That's because that's what makes the news. I hear a different version of that news, the kind where the traffic reports mention the motorcades and the pandas moving to the zoo. Here, the March On Washington means we're all going to be late to work.

The National Institutes of Health are inside the Beltway. So is the Pentagon. And the US Postal Service Headquarters. And many, many other things that the rest of the nation needs. I live inside the Beltway, too. It's about 1.5 miles north of my house.

I see dedicated, hardworking, average, difficult, dumb, smart, tired, awake people going to work every day to try to do the best they can. Some of them do things that are illegal and dangerous. There are murders and drug busts and prostitution, just like in any other big city. Elected officials tend, unfortunately, to either be dedicated public servants or people whose egoes are only comforted by the adulation of thousands or millions.

My brother, who worked in the Senate for a few years before heading back to grad school, says this about them. "I've learned that they have to actually be who they are. If they try to be anyone else, they fail and lose." Today, being themselves means being exhausted. Even the barristas at Starbucks are tired. They served thousands of free cups of coffee yesterday.

They're human. With frailties and emotions and core hurts and deep wonderful value.

The rest of the nation will still rant, because the rest of the nation wants to blame "them" for "all our problems."

When that changes, then this nation will change.

quote:

The rest of the nation will still rant, because the rest of the nation wants to blame "them" for "all our problems."

In the end, it's always the voter's fault.

The political pendulum swings back and forth. It will be interesting to see if we swing back more towards center in 2010, like we did in 1994.

I am surprised that the voter turnout was lower than expected and President-elect Obama got nearly the same number of votes as President Bush got in 2004. The amount of time and money spent on this campaign was obscene, with Obama outspending McCain nearly 8 to 1. Candidates that are currently in office, should be required to resign when they announce their candidacy. Who else can keep a job while they spend 2 years on the campaign trail. And they certainly shouldn't be able to run for 2 positions at the same time. Now two governors get to appoint Senators. Both sides played dirty and misrepresented each other with questionable 'facts' and outright lies. I wasn't a fan of either candidate and am still disappointed in the result, but am glad it's over. The makeup of Congress affects us more than who is President, and to me, that's the bigger concern.

It's unfortunate for all of us, that the best and brightess minds are seldom inclined to run for public office. Instead, we end up with professional politicians which I don't think was what the founding fathers had in mind.

end of whiny rant...

Instead of electing mayors, some cities elect the city council which then hires a professional non-partisan city manager.

Maybe we could do that with the chief executive?

Probably have to do something separately about the CIC role though.

Shoot, maybe we could do that with all of them in WDC.

JJ, I think it would be cool to live in DC. I'd probably be spending all my free time at the Smithsonian though. It would be fun to volunteer along with DS at the Smithsonian. Restoring old aircraft at the A&S museum in particular.

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Restoring old aircraft at the A&S museum in particular.

funny you should mention that.
My grandfather helped design the in flight fueling for both the Spirit of St. Louis and the Lunar Module for the first landing on the moon... I remember after his death helping my grandmother empty out his desk and finding all sorts of very neat drawings and calculations. All of it sent off to the library at Nasa in Houston.

Loui